What men and women think about their partners’ careers and help at home

By THE DATA TEAM

ACROSS the Western world, women greatly outnumber men in lower-level jobs, such as clerical and administrative positions, whereas managerial and senior jobs are mostly held by men. As our International section explains, this gender gap at work is largely due to the “motherhood penalty” that women’s careers suffer after they have children. Something more subtle could be part of the problem.

Earlier this year The Economist and YouGov, a pollster, asked people in eight countries how they balance career and family. Men were on average only half as likely as women to think that, in their family, the majority of household and child-care duties fell on the woman’s shoulders. And they were more likely than women to say that such tasks were split equally.